Efficacy Of Acupuncture Therapy Research Articles

The Efficacy of Acupuncture Therapy in the Management of Dyspnea and Other Symptoms Associated with Heart Failure: A Consolidated Review of Trial Data.

Acupuncture has been used for pain management for thousands of years. However, it is largely unclear whether this therapeutic approach can effectively reduce heart failure-associated symptoms, including dyspnea. The hypothesis posited in this study was that acupuncture does indeed aid in the management of such symptoms and was motivated by the following statistics that establish a requisite need for efficient management of dyspnea to improve patient outcomes with heart failure. In 2020, an estimated 6.2 million adults in the USA had a heart failure diagnosis; in 2018, 379,800 death certificates reported heart failure; and the national cost of heart failure in 2012 was approximately USD 30.7 billion. The methodology employed to conduct this study involved review of trial data extracted from review of papers pertaining to acupuncture, symptoms of heart failure, and dyspnea, from academic and clinical data repositories subject to various inclusion and exclusion criteria. Of the initial set of 293 studies identified, the resulting inclusion set comprised 30 studies. The analysis conducted revealed that the highest frequency of combined acupuncture points prescribed for the foregoing search criteria were as follows: BL13, BL23, LU9, LU5, Dingchuan, LI4, PC6, and HT7. A meta-analysis of combined pooled p values for the studies revealed that acupuncture does aid in the management of symptoms of dyspnea and heart failure, subject to various limitations including but not limited to heterogeneity inherent between the studies in the inclusion set that were analyzed. Such limitations underscore the need to restrict generalizations from the conclusions of this study. The impact and novelty of this research study is its attempt to target the apparent paucity of literature that focuses on the management of dyspnea specifically in the context of heart failure with acupuncture and to bridge the gap of the application of acupuncture research on dyspnea to the cardiovascular context of heart failure. Notwithstanding the meta-analysis undertaken under this review study, further statistical analysis and a pilot study are warranted to consolidate or nullify the results of the research.

Research on the Mechanism and Application of Acupuncture Therapy for Asthma: A Review.

Asthma is a high-risk disease based on airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR). In this review, we found that there are many studies on clinical therapy for asthma that focus on the efficacy of acupuncture therapy and its mechanisms, including the functional connectivity of different brain regions, with the aid of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), immune responses/cell recognition (innate lymphoid cells and balance of Th1/Th2 and Treg/Th17), intracellular mechanism (autophagy, endoplasmic reticulum stress, and epigenetic alteration), and ligand-receptor/chemical signaling pathway (neurotransmitter, hormone, and small molecules). In this review, we summarized the clinical and experimental evidence for the mechanisms of acupuncture therapy in asthma to offer insights into drug discovery and clinical therapy. Given the paucity of clinical studies on the mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of asthma, this review notably included studies based on animal models to investigate the mechanisms of acupuncture in the treatment of asthma.

Efficacy of acupuncture therapy for stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Acupuncture therapy (AT) is a widely used, alternative medicine in China. AT is an effective treatment for many diseases, but its efficacy in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains controversial. Therefore, we performed the present meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of AT in stable COPD patients. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for AT efficacy in stable COPD patients were searched in literature databases from the inception to December 31, 2021. Pooled effect sizes of outcome measurements with respect to lung function (forced vital capacity [FVC], forced expiratory volume in 1 second [FEV1], FEV1 in predicted value [FEV1%], FEV1/FVC), quality of life (St. George respiratory questionnaire [SGRQ]), exercise capacity (6-minute walking distance [6MWD]) and effective rate were estimated by calculating weighted mean difference (WMD) or odds ratio (OR) with corresponding 95% confidence interval (95% CI), respectively, by a random-effect model. A total of 28 RCTs with 2130 COPD patients were included. AT group had significant improvement in FVC (WMD = 0.29 L, 95% CI: 0.22-0.36, P < .001), FEV1 (WMD = 0.33 L, 95% CI: 0.23-0.43, P < .001), FEV1% (WMD = 3.30%, 95% CI: 3.30-4.64, P < .001), FEV1/FVC (WMD = 5.45%, 95% CI: 4.41-6.49, P < .001), 6MWD (WMD = 45.48 m, 95% CI: 28.21-62.16, P < .001), SGRQ (WMD = -7.79, 95% CI: -12.34 to -3.24, P < .001), and a higher effective rate (OR = 3.71, 95% CI: 2.50-5.52, P < .001) compared to the control group. Subgroup analysis stratified by comparison model (AT combined with other treatments vs other treatments, AT alone vs sham AT) and treatment duration (≥8 weeks, <8 weeks) also showed more improvement in AT arm than control arm without significant between-subgroup difference. Adverse events were reported in a few studies and only mild reactions were observed. AT is effective in improving lung function, quality of life and exercise capacity, and can be used as an adjunctive treatment in patients with stable COPD.

Effect of acupuncture at Zusanli\xa0(ST36) point on antral contraction function under ultrasound guidance: study protocol of a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAlthough the relationship between deqi sensations and curative effect has always been controversial, deqi sensations has been regarded as the key indicator of clinical efficacy of acupuncture therapy. There is little evidence for standardization or visualization of the mechanism of acupuncture’s therapeutic effect. This trial aims to evaluate the effect of needling at Zusanli (ST36) on antral contraction function as visualized by ultrasound.MethodsThis is a two-arm, single-blind, randomized, controlled trial. A total of 116 acupuncture-naïve healthy subjects will be randomly allocated to the acupuncture group or sham acupuncture group in a 1:1 ratio. Participants in the acupuncture group will receive manual acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36) with the needling depth at crural interosseous membrane. Those in the sham acupuncture group will be given penetrating needling depth at the superficial fascia layer. The primary outcome will be the changes in antral contraction frequency (ACF) before and after acupuncture. The secondary outcomes will be the changes in the thermal infrared spectrum of gastric area skin, the antral contraction amplitude (ACA), the antral movement index (AMI), and the scores on the Chinese version of Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale (C-MASS). The adverse events will be evaluated and recorded in detail.DiscussionThis study may provide visual and objective evidence regarding the safety and efficacy of manual acupuncture at Zusanli (ST36). In addition, the results of this study will help to identify the role of Zusanli (ST36)in the inducing deqi.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2000040686. Registered on 8 December 2020

침시술이 경피수분 손실량과 피부 수분함유량에 미치는 임상적 연구

침시술이 경피수분 손실량과 피부 수분함유량에 미치는 임상적 연구

Influences of De Qi induced by acupuncture on immediate and accumulated analgesic effects in patients with knee osteoarthritis: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundDe Qi is a special sensational response upon acupuncture needling. According to traditional acupuncture theory, the treatment is “effective only after Qi arrival”; that is, De Qi is an important indicator of therapeutic efficacy and good prognosis. However, it is still disputable whether De Qi improves the efficacy of acupuncture therapy. This prospective, randomized controlled trial aims to explore the influence of De Qi induced by acupuncture on immediate and accumulated analgesic effects in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA).Methods/designEighty-eight patients with KOA will be recruited and randomly assigned to the De Qi group (enhanced stimulation to evoke De Qi) and the control group (weak stimulation to avoid De Qi) in the Department of Acupuncture and Physical Therapy, Beijing Luhe Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University. Each patient will receive three 30-minute sessions per week for 4 consecutive weeks and undergo a 1 month follow-up. The severity of knee pain, as measured on a 100-mm visual analog scale (where 0 indicates no pain and 100 indicates intolerable pain) will be used as the primary outcome, and the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score will be used as the secondary outcome. Both indexes will be measured before and after the 1st (for evaluating the immediate analgesic effects), 3rd, 6th, 9th, and 12th (for evaluating the accumulated analgesic effects) treatments and at the end of the follow-up. The intensity of the De Qi sensation will be assessed by the Chinese-Modified Massachusetts General Hospital Acupuncture Sensation Scale at the end of each treatment. Side effects during the treatments will be recorded and analyzed as well. The comparisons between the De Qi group and the control group will be done by using both an intention-to-treat analysis and a per-protocol analysis.DiscussionThis prospective randomized controlled study will be helpful in enhancing our understanding of the analgesic effect of De Qi on patients with KOA and may provide a clinical basis for further investigation of the relationship between De Qi and the therapeutic efficacy of acupuncture, thereby offering some evidence for the role of De Qi in an efficacious acupuncture therapy.Trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR-IIR-16008972. Registered on 4 August 2016 Additional file 2.

Akupunktur versus krankheitsmodifizierende Antirheumatika in der Behandlung der ankylosierenden Spondylitis - eine Metaanalyse

Hintergrund: Die vorliegende Arbeit untersucht die Effektivität und Sicherheit von Akupunktur im Vergleich zu krankheitsmodifizierenden Antirheumatika (DMARDs) in der Behandlung der ankylosierenden Spondylitis (AS). Methodik: Die Recherche wurde im Dezember 2014 in den Datenbanken Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane library und ISI Web of Science durchgeführt. Die Referenzen der jeweiligen Studien wurden ebenfalls berücksichtigt. Randomisierte kontrollierte Studien (RCT), die die Effektivität der Akupunktur in der Behandlung der AS untersuchten, wurden identifiziert. In der Outcome-Analyse sollten klinische Wirksamkeit, Hinterkopf-Wand-Abstand, Thoraxdehnung, Finger-Boden-Abstand sowie die BSG und der CRP-Wert untersucht werden. Sechs Studien erfüllten unsere Einschlusskriterien. Zwei Autoren haben die ausgewählten Studien unabhängig voneinander analysiert und waren blind für die Ergebnisse des jeweils anderen. Ergebnisse: Wir haben Daten von 541 Patienten in sechs RCTs analysiert. Im Vergleich zu einer Behandlung mit DMARDs konnte der klinische Effekt mit Akupunktur verbessert (OR = 3,01; 95% CI 1,48-6,13; P = 0,002) und die BSG gesenkt (SMD = -0,77; 95% CI -1,46 bis -0,08; P = 0,03) werden. Eine kombinierte Therapie mit Akupunktur und DMARDs konnte den klinischen Effekt (OR = 3,20, 95% CI 1,36-7,54; P = 0,008), Hinterkopf-Wand-Abstand (SMD = -0,84; 95% CI, -1,37 bis -0,31; P = 0,002), Thoraxdehnung (SMD = 0,38; 95% CI 0,16-0,60; P = 0,0009) sowie Finger-Boden-Abstand (SMD = -0,48; 95% CI -0,87 bis -0,09; P = 0,02) im Vergleich zur Therapie mit DMARDs allein verbessern. Schlussfolgerung: Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass Akupunktur die AS-Symptomatik lindern konnte. Die Ergebnisse sollten allerdings wegen der suboptimalen Methodik der einbezogenen Studien mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.